When Isaac felt his end approaching, he called his two sons to him, and
charged them with his last wish and will, and gave them his blessing.
He said: "I adjure you by the exalted Name, the praised, honored,
glorious, immutable, and mighty One, who hath made heaven and earth and
all things together, that ye fear Him, and serve Him, and each shall
love his brother in mercy and justice, and none wish evil unto the
other, now and henceforth unto all eternity, all the days of your life,
that ye may enjoy good fortune in all your undertakings, and that ye
perish not."
Furthermore he commanded them to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, by
the side of his father Abraham, in the grave which he had dug for
himself with his own hands. Then he divided his possessions between his
two sons, giving Esau the larger portion, and Jacob the smaller. But
Esau said, "I sold my birthright to Jacob, and I ceded it to him, and
it belongs unto him." Isaac rejoiced greatly that Esau acknowledged the
rights of Jacob of his own accord, and he closed his eyes in
peace.[315]
The funeral of Isaac was not disturbed by any unseemly act, for Esau
was sure of his heritage in accordance with the last wishes expressed
by his father. But when the time came to divide Isaac's possessions
between the two brothers, Esau said to Jacob, "Divide the property of
our father into two portions, but I as the elder claim the right of
choosing the portion I desire." What did Jacob do? He knew well that
"the eye of the wicked never beholds treasures enough to satisfy it,"
so he divided their common heritage in the following way: all the
material possessions of his father formed one portion, and the other
consisted of Isaac's claim upon the Holy Land, together with the Cave
of Machpelah, the tomb of Abraham and Isaac. Esau chose the money and
the other things belonging to Isaac for his inheritance, and to Jacob
were left the Cave and the title to the Holy Land. An agreement to this
effect was drawn up in writing in due form, and on the strength of the
document Jacob insisted upon Esau's leaving Palestine. Esau acquiesced,
and he and his wives and his sons and daughters journeyed to Mount
Seir, where they took up their abode.[316]
Though Esau gave way before Jacob for the nonce, he returned to the
land to make war upon his brother. Leah had just died, and Jacob and
the sons borne by Leah were mourning for her, and the rest of his sons,
borne unto him by his other wives, were trying to comfort them, when
Esau came upon them with a powerful host of four thousand men, well
equipped for war, clad in armor of iron and brass, all furnished with
bucklers, bows, and swords. They surrounded the citadel wherein Jacob
and his sons dwelt at that time with their servants and children and
households, for they had all assembled to console Jacob for the death
of Leah, and they sat there unconcerned, none entertained a suspicion
that an assault upon them was meditated by any man. And the great army
had already encircled their castle, and still none within suspected any
harm, neither Jacob and his children nor the two hundred servants. Now
when Jacob saw that Esau presumed to make war upon them, and sought to
slay them in the citadel, and was shooting darts at them, he ascended
the wall of the citadel and spake words of peace and friendship and
brotherly love to Esau. He said: "Is this the consolation which thou
hast come to bring me, to comfort me for my wife, who hath been taken
by death? Is this in accordance with the oath thou didst swear twice
unto thy father and thy mother before they died? Thou hast violated thy
oath, and in the hour when thou didst swear unto thy father, thou wast
judged." But Esau made reply: "Neither the children of men nor the
beasts of the field swear an oath to keep it unto all eternity, but on
every day they devise evil against one another, when it is directed
against an enemy, or when they seek to slay an adversary. If the boar
will change his skin and make his bristles as soft as wool, or if he
can cause horns to sprout forth on his head like the horns of a stag or
a ram, then shall I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee."
Then spoke Judah to his father Jacob, saying: "How long wilt thou stand
yet wasting words of peace and friendship upon him? And he attacks us
unawares, like an enemy, with his mail-clad warriors, seeking to slay
us." Hearing these words, Jacob grasped his bow and killed Adoram the
Edomite, and a second time he bent his bow, and the arrow struck Esau
upon the right thigh. The wound was mortal, and his sons lifted Esau up
and put him upon his ass, and he came to Adora, and there he died.
Judah made a sally to the south of the citadel, and with him were
Naphtali and Gad, aided by fifty of Jacob's servants; to the east Levi
and Dan went forth with fifty servants; Reuben, Issachar, and Zebulon
with fifty servants, to the north; and Simon, Benjamin, and Enoch, the
last the son of Reuben, with fifty servants, to the west. Judah was
exceedingly brave in battle. Together with Naphtali and Gad he pressed
forward into the ranks of the enemy, and captured one of their iron
towers. On their bucklers they caught the sharp missiles hurled against
them in such numbers that the light of the sun was darkened by reason
of the rocks and darts and stones. Judah was the first to break the
ranks of the enemy, of whom he killed six valiant men, and he was
accompanied on the right by Naphtali and by Gad on the left. They also
hewed down two soldiers each, while their troop of servants killed one
man each. Nevertheless they did not succeed in forcing the army away
from the south of the citadel, not even when all together, Judah and
his brethren, made an united attack upon the enemy, each of them
picking out a victim and slaying him. And they were still unsuccessful
in a third combined attack, though this time each killed two men.
When Judah saw now that the enemy remained in possession of the field,
and it was impossible to dislodge them, he girded himself with
strength, and an heroic spirit animated him. Judah, Naphtali, and Gad
united, and together they pierced the ranks of the enemy, Judah slaying
ten of them, and his brothers each eight. Seeing this, the servants
took courage, and they joined their leaders and fought at their side.
Judah laid about him to right and to left, always aided by Naphtali and
Gad, and so they succeeded in forcing the enemy one ris further to the
south, away from the citadel. But the hostile army recovered itself,
and maintained a brave stand against all the sons of Jacob, who were
faint from the hardships of the combat, and could not continue to
fight. Thereupon Judah turned to God in prayer, and God hearkened unto
his petition, and He helped them. He set loose a storm from one of His
treasure chambers, and it blew into the faces of the enemy, and filled
their eyes with darkness, and they could not see how to fight. But
Judah and his brothers could see clearly, for the wind blew upon their
backs. Now Judah and his two brothers wrought havoc among them, they
hewed the enemy down as the reaper mows down the stalks of grain and
heaps them up for sheaves.
After they had routed the division of the army assigned to them on the
south, they hastened to the aid of their brothers, who were defending
the east, north, and west of the citadel with three companies. On each
side the wind blew into the faces of the enemy, and so the sons of
Jacob succeeded in annihilating their army. Four hundred were slain in
battle, and six hundred fled, among the latter Esau's four sons, Reuel,
Jeush, Lotan, and Korah. The oldest of his sons, Eliphaz, took no part
in the war, because he was a disciple of Jacob, and therefore would not
bear arms against him.
The sons of Jacob pursued after the fleeing remnant of the army as far
as Adora. There the sons of Esau abandoned the body of their father,
and continued their flight to Mount Seir. But the sons of Jacob
remained in Adora over night, and out of respect for their father they
buried the remains of his brother Esau. In the morning they went on in
pursuit of the enemy, and besieged them on Mount Seir. Now the sons of
Esau and all the other fugitives came and fell down before them, bowed
down, and entreated them without cease, until they concluded peace with
them. But the sons of Jacob exacted tribute from them.[317]